The background of the invention will be discussed in two parts.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to barrels and other containers in general, and particularly to a rigid framed wine barrel having replaceable wooden panels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wine barrels have long been commonly constructed of oak material since the oak wood has been found to provide desirable wine making characteristics such as aiding in the maturing of the wine as well as imparting a distinctive oak and tannin flavoring to the wine. Thus, to produce quality wine that is rich in the oak and tannin taste, winemakers age the wine in oak barrels.
During the aging process, the wine obtains a suitable amount of oxygen and tannin through the pores of the oak to obtain the desired taste. However, over time the amount of tannin received by the wine from inside of the wood pores is detrimentally decreased eventually requiring replacement of the barrels. Traditional oak barrels having a capacity of 225 liters are generally used only about 2 or 3 times before requiring replacement.
Thus, since the desired oak flavoring characteristics degrade with repeated use requiring barrel replacement after limited use, this, combined with the rather expensive original cost of oak barrels, has established a need for an alternate wine barrel concept. Attempts have been made to provide alternate wine barrel configurations with the objective of reducing costs and usage of timber, one of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,565 issued to Brian J. Croser on 21 Mar. 1989. Croser discloses a wine cask having a circular metal base and a circular metal end cover with a plurality of oak staves arranged circumferentially and lying edge to edge clamped by a circumferential clamp that retains the staves in a cylindrical configuration. A tension clamp extends on an axial direction between the circular metal base and circular metal end cover and clamps the staves between them. While this method permits introduction of oxygen to the wine, it is to a much lesser extent due to the top and bottom metal end plates. Furthermore, this configuration does not lend itself to stacking of the barrels. For instance, if it is desired to stack barrels end to end, problems are created since the wood staves float between the gaskets at each end and if weight is put on these ends the gaskets are compressed. Removal of the weight results in leakage. Further, this type of barrel cannot be rolled during transport because of the clamps on the outside of the barrel.
Another alternate wine barrel configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,461 issued to Stephen T. Sullivan on 29 Dec. 1992. Sullivan discloses a stainless steel wine barrel body having a circumferential stave holder secured to the inside surface of the barrel for supporting oak staves thereon, with the intention to thereby impart oak characteristics to the wine as it matures. The oak staves are inside of a stainless steel body with one removable end to replace the staves after use. There is a problem in that the stainless steel body will not permit oxygen to be introduced to the wine to augment the aging process and to provide the desirable characteristics to the wine. Thus, stainless steel tanks are not used for quality aging of wine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,268 issued to Stephen T. Sullivan on 15 Jul. 1997 discloses apparatus for use with standard wine barrels wherein small oak staves are inserted through a bung-hole in the barrel to thereby impart oak characteristics to wine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,960 issued to Stephen T. Sullivan on 09 Jan. 1996 discloses an infusion tube for use with standard wine barrels for imparting oak characteristics to wine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,381 issued to DePeaux et al. on 08 Oct. 1991 discloses another wood insertion method for use with standard wine barrels.
The above related art are illustrative of the various approaches made to satisfy the existing need for different ways of imparting oak characteristics to wine without using the traditional solid oak barrels. However, the related wine barrel concepts remain limited in this regard. The present invention satisfies the existing need by providing a wine barrel having a rigid frame enclosing replaceable uniform oak panels. The panels are straight and symmetrical and after 2 or 3 uses can easily be removed, turned inside out, and replaced within the frame to be used again. This procedure makes better use of the oak wood thereby reducing the barrel cost substantially without compromising quality. Furthermore, once both sides of the wood panels have been used they can be replaced within the rigid frame with new panels. This is relatively easily done without the need for the skilled labor required when making traditional wood barrels.
Additionally, the load carrying ability of the traditional wood barrel is established by the thickness of the staves. For instance, the traditional 225-liter barrel has appropriate wall thickness to provide adequate oxygen to the wine while providing sufficient load carrying ability to allow stacking of the barrels. Larger barrels require increased thickness for load carrying ability; however, this decreases oxygen passage through the pores of the wood to the wine to the detriment to the wine aging process. The present invention does not have this constraint since the frame, and not the wood panels, carries the load, thus enabling the winemaker to specify wood thickness depending on the amount of oxygen he wishes to introduce to the wine without concern for stacking of the barrels. Also, as constructed, the outside rigid frame does not come in contact with the wine, the wine only in contact with interior oak wood, and once both sides of the wood panels have been exhausted, the frame can be used repeatedly with new wood panels.
Further, winemakers often introduce a caramel taste to the wine by burning the inside of the traditional barrel during the process of making the barrel. This procedure requires skilled labor to provide the degree of caramelization desired by the winemaker. In contrast, with the present invention the wood panels can be burned in an oven with the degree of caramelization controlled by the oven temperature and time.
It is thus an aspect of the invention to provide a reduced cost wine barrel assembly having a re-useable rigid barrel frame that eliminates cooperage skill and time that is required to produce traditional barrels.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a barrel assembly having replaceable oak components in abutting arrangement within a rigid frame sealed in a manner to prevent leakage of the maturing wine.
It is still further an aspect of the present invention to provide a reduced cost barrel assembly having a re-useable rigid barrel frame that provides varied position stacking strength.
It is also an aspect of the present invention to provide a barrel assembly having replaceable oak components whereby the wine comes only in contact with the wood of the barrel.
Other aspects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the specification, when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements in the several views.